Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Milwaukee Business Signs

Find out information about small business resources in Milwaukee and build your own custom Milwaukee business signs online in four simple steps today!Before European settlement, the area of present-day Wisconsin, now known as Milwaukee, was inhabited by the Menominee, Fox, Mascouten, Sauk, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Native American tribes. However, in 1818, a French-Canadian explorer (Solomon Juneau) arrived in the area and began to build a town. In 1846, Juneau’s town and two neighboring towns incorporated into the City of Milwaukee. The name ‘Milwaukee’ derives from either the Potawatomi or Ojibwe languages and means ‘gathering place [by the water]”.

A 2010 U.S. census estimated the population of Milwaukee to be 594,833. This makes it the largest city in Wisconsin and the 31st most populous city in the country. Milwaukee also serves as the main cultural and economic hub for the Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha Metropolitan Area, which according to a 2013 estimate has a population of 2,040,498. This makes the Milwaukee Metropolitan area the 29th most populous metropolitan area in the United States.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan area ranks fifth in the country in terms of the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters as a share of the population. It is home to the international headquarters for six Fortune 500 companies: Johnson Controls, Northwestern Mutual, Manpower, Rockwell Automation, Harley-Davidson, and Joy Global.

In its past, Milwaukee was well known as a center for beer breweries. In fact, it was once the number one beer-producing city in the world. Present day Milwaukee, however, is home to only one major brewery, Miller Brewing Company. Miller is the second-largest-beer-maker in the country and employs over 2,200 people in the city.

Milwaukee is no stranger to other attractions, though. The Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. This is due, in no small part, to its $100 million wing, which was designed by Santiago Calatrava. The MAM also boasts a ‘brise soleil,’ which is a moving sunscreen that unfolds similar to the wings of a bird.

For the last 125 years, the city has also been home to the Milwaukee Public Museum, which serves as Milwaukee’s primary natural history and human history museum. Milwaukee is also the site of the Pabst Mansion. This mansion was built in 1892 by beer tycoon Frederick Pabst. The house was built in the Flemish Renaissance style.

Milwaukee’s sports scene is bristling with excitement. MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers play at Miller Park while the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks play at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The Bucks have one championship to their name. Two hours away in small town Green Bay (nicknamed ‘Title Town’), the NFL’s Green Bay Packers have been in operation for 96 years. They play their home games at historic Lambeau Field. The Packers have won an NFL leading 13 championships, four of those being Lombardi trophies. In fact, the Lombardi trophy was named after the seventh Packer head coach, Vincent T. Lombardi, who led the ’66 and ’67 Packers to win the first two Super Bowls, and who was inarguably the greatest head coach in the history of American Football.

Do you own a small business in the Milwaukee metropolitan area? Are you thinking about starting one? These resources could be helpful: